WHO REALLY IS HUNTER BIDEN?

Yesterday I started out saying I have no interest in the fate of Hunter Biden.  Today, just having learned that he was found guilty of three felony counts, that all changes.  Also, today, the Hamas accepted the U.N.-backed Gaza truce plan, this is the one President Joe Biden talked about last week.  Both developments are, interestingly enough, positive signs for Joe's re-election campaign.

But about Hunter:

• Is 54 years old.
• Mother was Joe Biden's first wife, Neila Hunter.  She was driving the car in 1972 with their four children that crashed, killing her and one daughter, seriously injuring Hunter (fractured skull and severe traumatic brain injuries) and his older brother Beau.

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  Jill Jacobs Stevenson became their stepmother in 1977.  Jill and Joe had a daughter Ashley in 1981.
• Hunter got a BA from Georgetown University in 1992.

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  Served as a Jesuit volunteer in Oregon, where he met Kathleen Buhle, got married in 1993, and divorced in 2017.
• Graduated from Yale Law School in 1996.
• Became mostly a lobbyist, but in 2010 quit doing this when his father was running with Barack Obama for the White House.
• Went into finance, law and charity-type work.  

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  Was board chairman of the UN World Food Programme from 2011 to 2015.
• Was involved with CEFC China Energy and related organizations from 2013 to 2019, and quit when then-president Donald Trump accused Hunter of shenanigans.
• In 2014 joined the board of Burisma Holdings, owned by Ukrainian oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky, who was accused of money laundering.  

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  Served until 2019.  
• Hunter and father Joe has since been falsely accused on corrupt activities by Trump and Rudy Giuliani.

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  No evidence of any wrongdoing by Hunter in Ukraine.
• In 2019 the House of Representatives impeached Donald Trump for using U.S. foreign aid and the Ukrainian government to damage Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign.

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  During all of this and the more recent Republican House looking into impeaching Biden, it was found that the key Ukrainian official, Andrii Telizhenki, a Giuliani associate, was, in fact, a Russian agent.
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  Married South African filmmaker Melissa Cohen in 2019 only one week after meeting her.  One son born in 2020, who they named Beau.
• Became a part-time painter artist in the 2020's, and in 2021 actually sold several pieces of art for $875,000.  Ethics concerns?

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  Hunter in 2021 published a memoir, Beautiful Things, indicating that he in adult life struggled with drug and alcohol abuse, which escalated in 2015 when Beau died of brain cancer.
• Over the past two decades entered several substance abuse rehabilitation programs, and kept relapsing.  At his worst, was "smoking crack every 15 minutes."
• In 2023 was indicted in California of nine tax charges.  Trial will start on 5September2024.
• Convicted of gun charges today, 11June2024.

Hunter Biden lived a troubled and traumatic life.  He and his father Joe no doubt suffered emotionally.  President Biden, soon after he learned about his son's guilt, addressed a gun control group.  Kind of awkward, but turned out to be a nice beginning for his campaign on gun control and crime reduction.  This was the most emotional speech I've ever seen him give.  Watch the whole 20-minutes at the Gun Sense University conference.

Biden lauded the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act as the reason why crime has dropped in the country.  The FBI just yesterday indicated that violent crimes between January and March dropped 15%, murders by 26%.  Already because of that act, murders were reduced by 13% in 2023.  Bipartisanships work, and gun control legislation also.

So why do I say the events of today strengthen Biden's campaign position for president?

• Peace in the Middle East by this fall will be a victory for Biden.
• But more so, that Trump guy.
• He has continued to say that his conviction was rigged by Biden and shows that the judicial system is flawed.  For one, that is just another series of lies, but if Biden has weaponized the process, why didn't he prevent his son from also being judged guilty?

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  Trump was found guilty of 34 felonies that might have prevented him from being elected president.  The timing and seriousness of these crimes cannot be changed, but the fact that he is the only felon among all the presidents in the history of the U.S. is a matter of some considerable substance.
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  Hunter's conviction for a gun he owned for 11 days, which was not involved in any crime, rarely comes up for scrutiny.

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  Trump's wife and daughter never showed up for the trial.  After the guilty announcements, Ivanka did Instagram herself sitting on his lap, with four words scrawled across it, I love you dad.  Continued total silence from Melania.

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  Hunter's family was always present in the courtroom, many times with Jill Biden present.  Father Biden never, for that would have been overkill.  They all accepted the verdict, and President Biden said he will not pardon his son.  Mother Jill and wife Melissa left the court holding hands.

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  Republicans pretty much all condemned Trump's felony status, blaming Joe Biden and his justice cronies.  Surprising that no one yet has said something like, another case of weaponizing the judiciary, for no doubt President Biden and AG Merrick Garland orchestrated Hunter's guilty verdict to help Sleepy Joe steal the election over Trump. 

Incidentally, President Biden returns to Europe, for Italy is hosting the G7 this week.  Did you know that they have female prime minister?  Giogia Meloni is an arch conservative, whose Brothers of Italy group won the most votes in the European parliamentary election over the weekend. Her party traces its roots back to a neo-fascist group. In short, Europe is heading in the direction of Trump's MAGA attitude.  But the voter turnout  in the European Union was under 50%.

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